DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from applicant's description) This conference will focus on the mechanisms that govern gamete and preimplantation embryo development in mammals. When possible, speakers in each of the major areas of the conference; namely, spermatogenesis, oogenesis, and preimplantation embryogenesis, are represented in each session. The sessions will address: 1. Physiology of gametes and preimplantation embryos; 2. Cell-cell communication regulation gamete and preimplantation embryo development; 3. Genomic modification in gametes and preimplantation embryos; 4. Gene expression during gamete and preimplantation development; 5. Regulation of meiosis; 6. Development of human gametes and preimplantation embryos; 7. Chromatin structure-function relationships in gametes and preimplantation embryos; and 8. Translational and post-translational control mechanisms in germ cells and early embryos. In addition, it is a tradition of the "Mammalian Gametogenesis and Embryogenesis" Gordon Conference to reserve a special evening lecture for a single speaker of particular distinction. This speaker at the 1998 Conference will be Dr. Ian Wilmut of the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland. Dr. Wilmut will describe progress and applications of cloning mammals by transfer of somatic nuclei to enucleated eggs.